Can you train Salukis?

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#1
Hi,
I am the first time owner of a beautiful Saluki dog, whom I adore.
He's pefect in every way except one, He doesn't return on command.
I have researched into the breed and all of my sources have stated that you cannot train Salukis.
I refuse to beleive this as he is trained in every aspect apart from the failure to return.
Does anyone have any ideas on how I could retreive my dog short of rugby tackling him to the ground?
 

Brattina88

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#2
Your sources shouldn't say that youcannot train Salukis. Some dogs are harder to train than others, some dogs may be stuborn or easily distracted... If I'm not mistaken Salukis are sight hounds, and these can be hard to train to have a reliable recall. Try simple retraining inside the house, and then outside in a small fenced in area. When he does come, praise him like you've never praised him before with treats, petting ect! If you try to train your heart out and he still doesn't come back than it may be neccisary to keep him on a leash or in a fenced in are at all times. He wouldn't be the only dog that this has to be done with - let us know how it turns out.
HTH
 
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#3
I think Brattina's got the right idea. I understand that you and Caspian are going to start some training for shows very soon. Maybe your instructor can give you some insight. I've heard it can be difficult to get a sight hound to return immediately, but if it were impossible, they couldn't have been successful hunting companions for thousands of years, could they? Caspian's young, so he may need more time to expend all that tremendous energy. Some people have laughed at something I tend to do with my animals (even cats) when they've seen me do it, then had to stop laughing when they've seen the results. Sometimes I just get eye to eye with them and explain what I want and why it is important. I don't get fancy, I use a low, calm voice and make them look at me. I don't know exactly why it works, but it does. I may have to repeat it periodically, but it's not a big trauma to do it. Every once in awhile I have to remind Bimmer that he must come immediately when I whistle; that I have a reason for calling him back even if he's off hunting. I know it saved his life one night when he was after three coyotes behind the house. It's worth a few tries. It can't hurt and it's free! Just be ready for some people to look at you like you should be locked up!
 
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#4
Why not? They're not different!....Or are they? My dog doesn't really listen to my family but that doesnt mean his breed cant be trained!
 
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#5
Thank you for your replies, I will attempt some of them with him, But I have tried all sorts of treats to tempt him with and I am reluctant to have him permanently restrained and a lead, as he needs an excess amount of excercise and needs to be able to run free.
At the moment I am retreiving him by sending my Border Collie to herd him back to me.
I should note that when there are no other dogs about he is a lot better at returning although still reluctant.
Thank you once again for your interest and suggestions
 
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#6
I LOVE the Border Collie idea! It's wonderful. Caspian gets his run, and your Border gets to work. All too often Border Collies don't get the chance and it's so sad. They love to work so very much.

Caspian's still young, and as long as you are consistent he'll get better and better about returning quickly as he grows up and becomes more mature. I'm impressed that the Border Collie is so quick! I knew they were fast, but that's amazing! Do you participate in agility events with him? Or her? What's the name?
 
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#7
His name is Merlyn and we were hoping to enroll him in agility very soon but he's still a tad too young (only 8 months).
He issn't any where near as fast as Caspian but he tries and sometimes manages to cut him off and drive him back to me, and if that fails he gets Caspian to chase him and leads him back to me.
He really is a cleaver lil pup.
I'm hoping to have some photos of him on the site soon.
 
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#8
It will be fun for you to see if Caspian will follow Merlyn through his agility practices! I'd love to see a Saluki or one of the other large sight hounds running agility. Can you imagine an Irish Wolfhound on the course? Or even a Borzoi? It would have a hard time in the tunnel, though. Keep us posted and keep your camera handy! I hope you have a videocamera. Your pups will be making memories you'll want to watch over and over. I'm sitting here laughing to myself thinking about a dog like Caspian whizzing through all the obstacles - kind of a mental Roadrunner type cartoon going on in my head! Truly a demented daydream!
 
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#9
I doubt that that will ever happen. You see while he is quite happy to obey a command such as sit to receive a treat, or even to run around a field in circles.
I cannot see him ever being motivated to jump through hoops on command.
Although It would be lovely if he did.
:D
 
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#10
I can understand Caspian's reluctance. Dogs do have their own ideas of what is sensible and what isn't, don't they? My big Akita/Shepherd, Bear, had a very common sense reaction when I tried to get him to play fetch; he was perfectly happy to go get something and bring it to me, but if I threw it and told him to get it, he'd just stand there and look at me and it was as plain as day that he thought "well, if you wanted it, why'd you throw it away?"

You never know though, Caspian might decide to do it after he sees Merlyn getting attention and praise! Some dogs can't stand to be one-upped.

By the way, how is Caspian's show training going?
 

Brattina88

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#11
Renee750il said:
I think Brattina's got the right idea. I understand that you and Caspian are going to start some training for shows very soon. Maybe your instructor can give you some insight. I've heard it can be difficult to get a sight hound to return immediately, but if it were impossible, they couldn't have been successful hunting companions for thousands of years, could they? Caspian's young, so he may need more time to expend all that tremendous energy. Some people have laughed at something I tend to do with my animals (even cats) when they've seen me do it, then had to stop laughing when they've seen the results. Sometimes I just get eye to eye with them and explain what I want and why it is important. I don't get fancy, I use a low, calm voice and make them look at me. I don't know exactly why it works, but it does. I may have to repeat it periodically, but it's not a big trauma to do it. Every once in awhile I have to remind Bimmer that he must come immediately when I whistle; that I have a reason for calling him back even if he's off hunting. I know it saved his life one night when he was after three coyotes behind the house. It's worth a few tries. It can't hurt and it's free! Just be ready for some people to look at you like you should be locked up!

Ha! Renee, I swear you take ideas right out of my mouth -- like every topic I read I start at the top, and then get an idea/suggestion in my head to post so I'll scroll down a little further only to see that you already posted it! LoL! I did the exact same thing with my Maddie. I explained to her why she had to come back immediately when I called, because if I do its for a good reason! There was a huge stray shepherd/pit pull mix (i hate to say this bcz i hate when ppl discriminate against dog breeds i.e - Pit Bulls) that had killed a couple of dogs in our city ... One night - about 11pm I let Maddie out, she ran around a little and did her business and then started looking for rabbits to chase (its strange that we have wild rabbits downtown :rolleyes:) I was standing at the back door watching to see if there was any and suddenly I saw this dog - that's evaded dog catchers and the police and has been on the news - with his eyes glued on Maddie :eek: . I wanted to scream, but I calmly called "Maddie! Come!" and she spun around and came.

Here's a suggestion -- most people over use the word come and dogs learn to ignore it. Some people use different words like 'cookie', or a friend of mine says 'click' (i have no idea where that came from lol) so they don't over use it and the dog knows it means to come immeadiatly. :D
 
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#12
What I did was I called,"Luke Come!" then my mom would push him over to me and I would praise him. Then again,when I called "Luke Come!" at the pet store (my mom always loved the name Luke) he came,before he knew me. o_O So I'm not very sure. If you've trained him,then the people must be wrong. Don't believe everything you hear. The professinal dog trainer at the pet store gave us a cat collar for Luke because she didn't know the difference.
 
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#13
I'm glad to know I'm not the only lunatic out there who thinks her animals understand. When Gonzo, the big blue cat I had, first moved in with me I had an awful time keeping him off the counters. I used a water gun, mousetraps, sticky paper, you name it, I tried it. Finally, in complete and utter frustration I sat down face to face with him and explained that I didn't walk on the counters, and he shouldn't either. He never got on the counters again.

I never can seem to get my animals to use the standard commands. I did exactly the same thing with Bimmer that you did with Maddie, only it was coyotes instead of another dog I had to worry about. He knows when I say "now" it's important and he high tails it in.

I had to give up on calling the dogs years ago. I don't have a very big yell, so on 60 acres, each of the dogs has a different whistle. Instead of "sit," they both respond to "where are your manners?" I can't take any credit for that, Bimmer just did it on his own one day when he was being rambunctious and I asked him if he had any manners. Shiva's learned it from watching him. They're also good about plopping down when I snap my fingers. My Mom's rat terrier does "sit" for her, but for me - I have to tell her to park her little butt! Bimmer's version of "stay" is usually just me holding my hand up. Shiva knows what "don't even think about it!" means. She's also learning, "no surfing" now that she's so big her head is even with the top of the kitchen table. She also figured out what "drop it" or "gimme" was all about in a hurry; we're always having to take something away from her. She doesn't chew things up, she just carries them around. Somehow I doubt she'll ever go along with the idea of "stay." She thinks she has to take every step I take; she hates to let me out of her sight, which has made some for some fairly interesting showers!
 
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#14
By the way, Brattina, don't feel too strange about the rabbits. I have a house in town that I mostly work out of now. My cat, Gomez, stays there as he appreciates the peace and quiet and general Shiva-less-ness. He doesn't mind if I bring Shiva with me occasionaly, and he's loved Bimmer ever since Bimmer was a puppy. I walked in the other morning and Gomez met me, howling at the top of his lungs. He wanted me to follow him to the laundry room. I got back there and he had killed a possum! The only thing I can figure is it either came in through the basement or the attic. My parents live next door and they found one hiding under their bed one night!
 
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#15
thanks for all your great ideas, i'll try talking to him but I don't know if it will work. ( Salukis are a very ignorant breed) Umm.... Caspian did very well in him first show training lesson and came 3rd in both of his classes. :D
Thanx again.
 
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#16
That's great! Didn't you say you were a first time Saluki owner? Both of you deserve lots of credit and congratulations. I'm sure it's not as easy as it looks when we see the professional handlers and show dogs perform.
 

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#17
saluki_babe said:
Hi,
I am the first time owner of a beautiful Saluki dog, whom I adore.
He's pefect in every way except one, He doesn't return on command.
I have researched into the breed and all of my sources have stated that you cannot train Salukis.
I refuse to beleive this as he is trained in every aspect apart from the failure to return.
Does anyone have any ideas on how I could retreive my dog short of rugby tackling him to the ground?
Hi,
i have a german shepherd mix and he is trained in every way exept for sometiems he doesnt come back right away when you call but he will not run and not come back and he is scared of cars so i just sit down and wait till i hear him scratch on the door to come in so i let him in if he comes right away i give him a treat if he doesnt i dont but thats all i do.

Mandi
 
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#18
Manda0304 said:
Hi,
i have a german shepherd mix and he is trained in every way exept for sometiems he doesnt come back right away when you call but he will not run and not come back and he is scared of cars so i just sit down and wait till i hear him scratch on the door to come in so i let him in if he comes right away i give him a treat if he doesnt i dont but thats all i do.

Mandi
I wish it was that simple with Caspian, but If I was to do that he would either end in a fight, be run down ( he has no road sense what- so ever) or be picked up by the dog warden.
Thanks for the suggestion though.
 
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#19
Be careful having him off lease in an open area. Sighthounds that are impecibally trained to return on command will go after any small moving object and will be oblivious to any calls to return. Before I bought my Whippet I read up on them and the articles said the leading cause of Whippets death is being hit by a car. I think this pretty much applies to most sight hounds. luckily there is a large fenced area right accross from my house. She never pulls on the leash but one day she saw a cat just sitting under a neighbors car and fought the lease until we got by . Whippets can see clearly for 1/2 mile. I bet that is the same for most sighthounds. WJ
 

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